Retrial?

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015 • A1 www.magicvalley.com • $2.00

March 25, 2015

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RETRIAL?

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO

The Gooding school board meets in November at the school district office.

Magic Valley Lacks School Board Candidates

Once on Death Row, Jerome Man to Get New Trial in 31-year-old Murder Case

JULIE WOOTTON jwootton@magicvalley.com

GOODING • After a year of turmoil in the Gooding School District, seven candidates are clamoring for a spot on the school board.

But on the flip side, some districts — including Jerome, Cassia County and Castleford — have an open position without any candidates.

“In small rural districts, that happens often,” said Karen Echeverria, executive director for the Idaho School Boards Association.

Friday was the deadline to file a candidate petition for the May 19 school board election.

Trustees play a key role in overseeing schools, from creating a school calendar to managing a budget.

But it’s time consuming and trustees don’t get

ALISON GENE SMITH alismith@magicvalley.com

JEROME • The recent discovery of a mysterious letter, at the center of what a judge called a conspiracy to withhold evidence in a first-degree murder case, has led to the possibility for a new trial for a Jerome man who has spent 31 years in prison.

In 1985, Jaimi Dean Charboneau, then 25, was convicted of shooting his ex-wife 16 times with a rifle.

Charboneau, now 55, was initially sentenced to death and resentenced in 1989 to life in prison without parole for the death of 36-year-old Marilyn Arbaugh.

He has appealed his conviction most recently in 2011.

In court papers filed Monday, Blaine County District Judge Robert Elgee wrote that granting Charboneau a new trial was the only way for justice to be served. A letter apparently written by Tira Arbaugh, one of the victim’s daughters, and an affidavit by former Jerome County Sheriff Larry Gold, may be admitted as evidence, Elgee ruled.

“We think he was wrongly convicted,” Charboneau’s attorney Brian Tanner said. “This decision to overturn the conviction and grant a new trial is definitely the appropriate decision.”

Tanner anticipates a bond hearing to ILLUSTRATION BY MATTHEW GOOCH, TIMES-NEWS

ABOVE RIGHT: A collection of Times-News articles about the Jaimi Charboneau murder case.

(COURTESY JEROME COUNTY JAIL)

ABOVE LEFT: Charboneau

Please see BOARD, A10

Man Sentenced in Burley Walgreens Pharmacy Robbery LAURIE WELCH lwelch@magicvalley.com

be set in early April in Jerome County.

“We’re just very satisfied that justice has finally been served in this case,” he said.

Marilyn Arbaugh’s sister-in-law Rhonda Arbaugh said Tuesday that the family was too emotional for an interview.

“We’re just not emotionally ready this afternoon,” she said.

In a Times-News reader comment published in October, Rhonda Arbaugh wrote that she and other family members believe the letter is a fraud.

“We have read and examined this copy and found numerous inconsistencies within the body of the letter,” she wrote. “Key elements and references are incorrect – errors she would not have made. We do not believe Tira wrote

this letter, nor do we believe the letter to be valid. We believe this is a fraudulent attempt to gain post conviction relief.”

Tira Arbaugh died in 1999 of an asthma attack.

Elgee wrote that he finds the state, whether it was prosecutors, police or the Idaho Department of Correction, has had a hand in suppressing Tira Arbaugh’s 1989 letter.

“Prejudice has certainly ensued,”

BURLEY • Chandler Lee Palmer, 22, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison with one year fixed for robbing the Burley Walgreens pharmacy in November.

Palmer, of Twin Falls, was charged with felony robbery, burglary, eluding police, evidence destruction and possession of a controlled substance after he presented the pharmacist with what Cassia County Deputy Prosecutor McCord Larsen called a “nebulous” note demanding prescription pain killers.

After the robbery, Palmer was followed from the store by Larsen’s cousin, who purchasing aspirin at the store. Larsen’s cousin followed Palmer’s vehicle to the interstate and called 911 on his cell phone.

Under a plea agreement, Palmer pleaded guilty to the charges of robbery and eluding police. In exchange, the state will dismiss the burglary,

Please see RE-TRIAL, A4

Please see ROBBERY, A10

More Online See original Times-News coverage of the 1985 murder trial and sentencing at Magicvalley.com.

House GOP Passes Concealed Carry Permit Code Rewrite NATHAN BROWN nbrown@magicvalley.com

BOISE • On a mostly partisan vote, Idaho’s House of Representatives passed a rewrite of the state’s concealed carry code Tuesday.

One of the bigger changes is that the bill spells out that a concealed carry permit would not be required outside of city limits.

Current code says it isn’t required outside of a city while “hunting, fishing, trapping or other lawful outdoor activity.” This has led to differing interpretations of what is legal, said Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, who crafted the new bill with a group of several other lawmakers.

However, Idaho elected officials would keep their right to carry

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concealed without a permit. The first bill would have gotten rid of this exemption. The exemption came into the spotlight in 2013, when former lawmaker Mark Patterson was able to keep carrying concealed even though he lied about an old attempted rape conviction on his permit application.

The bill could also lower the fees some counties charge, by fixing

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the fee for the original license at $20, for renewal at $15, and saying that counties can only exceed this by the cost of fingerprinting, processing and gathering the materials for the license.

“It is not fair that it be used as a tax-generating mechanism and causing you a lot more grief than is necessary,” Boyle said.

Twin Falls County currently

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charges $75 for an initial application and $45 for a renewal. This might not change too much, though — these numbers were recommended by the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association, and reflect all the costs involved, said Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Staff Sgt. Doug Sugden.

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A4 • Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Idaho Senate Passes Cannabidiol Oil Possession, Testing Bills NATHAN BROWN nbrown@magicvalley.com‌

‌B OISE • On Tuesday, Idaho’s Senate moved forward with two bills designed to make cannabidiol oil available to children with intractable seizure disorders.‌ O n e , wh i c h p a s s e d unanimously, would allow a British drug company to test the cannabidiol oil drug Epidiolex in Idaho.

Twe n ty- f ive c h i l d re n would be able to take part in the first year. The other, which passed 22-12 after an emotional debate, would make a child’s intractable epilepsy an affirmative defense if a parent were to get arrested in possession of the oil. Both bills will now go to the House.

The initial proposal had been to decriminalize the

oil’s possession. However, lawmakers came out with the affirmative defense bill to try to accommodate objections from law enforcement and prosecutors.

“Politics is the art of the possible,” said sponsor Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law, although the Obama administration has not been interfering with changing state-level marijuana policies. Several of Idaho’s neighbors have legalized recreational use, although a majority of Idaho lawmakers oppose liberalizing marijuana laws. Lawmakers passed a resolution in 2013 stating their opposition to legalizing pot for any reason.

Fourteen states that do not allow medical

“Politics is the art of the possible.”

— Sponsor Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa.

marijuana have allowed people to have cannabidiol oil for medical reasons.

The opponents of allowing more widespread possession of the oil said just allowing the study, which would be completely legal and licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, would provide a way to help these children without legal complications or the risks that could come with allowing people to possess an untested drug that they would have to buy out-of-state. “ I wo u l d ra t h e r go

through a legal process that’s proven medically healthy,” said Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls. “We don’t know the side effects of this at all. It’s an experimental drug at best.”

Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, said he wants to help the sick children, but that federal law prevents them. He questioned what could happen if a future administration were to enforce federal marijuana laws.

“I’m afraid compassion is forcing us down a road that logic will not allow us

Idaho State Police Chief and Senate Panel talk Prison Scandal KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press‌

‌BOISE • The head of the Idaho State Police stood by his decision not to investigate a private prison company when he was questioned by lawmakers during a reappointment hearing Monday.‌ Idaho State Police Col. Ralph Powell told the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee that he believed falsified reports given to the state by Corrections Corporation of America were likely a civil, not criminal, matter. Powell said that’s why he decided not to launch a criminal investigation after it was revealed that CCA understaffed the state prison in violation of its contract.

“Whether or not this fraud piece was real, well certainly it was, (but) there

Re-Trial Continued from A1

Elgee wrote. “Charboneau has been unable to support his earlier post-conviction claims with necessary proof. Tira Arbaugh passed away. Larry Gold passed away. Witnesses have scattered. Memories have faded or died.”

Now, valuable evidence that might have been available back in 1989 is likely gone, he wrote.

The letter was likely received by someone at the Jerome County Courthouse at least a year before Charboneau was re-sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole, a time when the court could have granted a new trial, Elgee’s decision said.

The letter says the day of the murder, Tira Arbaugh was given a brand new, giftwrapped .22 rifle, an eighthgrade graduation gift from her mother and Charboneau. Later, she heard her mother screaming for her other daughter, Tiffnie.

The two girls heard shots.

Tiffnie grabbed the new rifle, gave Tira a .22 pistol and they both went outside, behind a sheep wagon.

In the letter, Tira wrote she heard Tiffnie shoot the rifle. Days after the murder, police asked her to leave some of that information out of her statements and prosecutors told the family to get rid of her mother’s rifle, the letter said.

In 2003, IDOC Officer Michael Hisckett was cleaning a prison office in Orofino when he came across a packet marked “legal mail” with Charboneau’s name on it. He later delivered it to Charboneau.

Inside it was Tira Arbaugh’s letter and other evidence.

“Charboneau received the letter in 2011, quite by accident, over 21 years after it was written, and almost

“Whether or not this fraud piece was real, well certainly it was, (but) there wasn’t a walk away from any criminal investigation agreement.”

— Idaho State Police Col. Ralph Powell

wasn’t a walk away from any criminal investigation agreement,” Powell said.

“There was an implication in other media that for some reason that I listened to this investigation request without consulting my experts in criminal investigations.”

That’s “so far from factual,” he said.

Powell added that the law enforcement agency doesn’t launch criminal investigations on timecard errors.

However, he said that the agency now realizes that problem went much deeper.

Instead, a forensic auditing firm, KPMG, was hired

to review timesheets. The firm found that CCA left more than 26,000 hours of mandatory guard posts unstaffed or insufficiently covered in 2012. KPMG also recommended the state expand its CCA staffing investigation.

The FBI is now investigating CCA over the company’s running of an Idaho prison that had a reputation so violent that inmates dubbed it “Gladiator School.”

Powell was before the committee for his reappointment hearing. The panel asked Powell a total

of three questions, only one regarding the private prison scandal, and no followup questions. Lawmakers will vote soon on whether to recommend the Senate should appoint Powell to the four-year term.

Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA operated Idaho’s largest prison for more than a decade, but in 2013, CCA officials acknowledged it had violated the state contract by understaffing the Boise’s Idaho Correctional Center and having employees falsify documents to cover up the vacancies.

The announcement came after an Associated Press investigation showed CCA sometimes listed guards as working 48 hours straight to meet minimum staffing requirements.

The state has since taken over management of the prison.

to go,” he said.

Sen. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, said that the bill only says that Idaho’s state laws won’t be a problem for parents who want to use the oil to treat their children. He said lawmakers shouldn’t use Idaho’s views on marijuana to ban the oil, which contains far too little THC to have any psychoactive effect.

“The best defense to the abuse of marijuana is to draw a good line, a sensible line, a compassionate line, a line that recognizes the right to life and the right to health,” he said.

Sen John T ippets, R-Bennington, compared banning the oil to waiting at the crosswalk before helping a child in need.

“Please don’t run to the corner and wait for the traffic light to change

before going across the street to help these children,” he said. “It’s time we ran across the street today to give these children some help.”

After the affirmative defense vote, the Senate quickly passed the bill to allow the Epidiolex study.

The drug is also being tested in a few other places. Sponsor Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, raised the possibility that McKenzie’s defense proposal might not pass the House or could get vetoed by the governor, but said his bill, by contrast, would provide “a legal path forward to do the same thing with the same type of drug.”

The proponents hope that, after the test, Epidiolex will be approved by the FDA.

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27 years after the murder,” Elgee wrote.

In 2011, Charboneau’s latest post-conviction relief case, he said the letter raised questions about his guilt, and at a minimum, would have had a substantial impact on his sentence if revealed earlier.

On Sept. 19, 2014, Elgee decided that Charboneau was entitled to be sentenced again, because the letter was written in 1989, before Charboneu was resentenced to life in prison.

Days later, Elgee filed another decision saying that the only change he could make to Charboneu’s sentence would be to 10 years to life in prison, because of Idaho’s mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for first-degree murder. That would leave Charboneau back in the custody of the IDOC, “the

same Dept. of Corrections that the Court has found has willfully concealed material evidence from Charboneau,” Elgee’s ruling said.

The judge wrote that there were a number of questions the letter brings up that could change a jury’s verdict in the case.

“If the jury believed Tiffnie had a rifle and fired it, it would raise complications for the sate in asserting first-degree murder,” he wrote. “If a jury inferred that there was no second round of shots, the chances of a first-degree murder case might well be gone.”

There is no definitive answer to whether the letter’s assertions are true, Elgee wrote. “But it does raise questions. And questions that cannot be answered or effectively put to bed raise doubts.”

The letter would not

warrant a new trial if the jury had only convicted Charboneau of seconddegree murder, Elgee wrote.

Next, a bond motion hearing will be set, then attorneys will scheduled a new trial, before Elgee enters his final judgment.

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